Caldwell Partners Recruits CFO for Academic Partnerships

Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor, head of Caldwell Partners’ private equity and venture capital recruiting practice, led the search.

Mr. Dawson comes to Academic Partnerships after more than eight years with Match.com where he held multiple leadership positions. Mostly recently, he was CFO of dating at Match and just before that held the role of vice president of finance. His experience also includes 10 years of progressive leadership experience with American Airlines, Airband Communications, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

“I look forward to working in partnership with Jeff as we set Academic Partnerships’ strategic direction and company priorities for both the short and long term,” said Carl Sparks, chief executive officer. “Jeff’s experience with Match Group in customer acquisition and retention and his role in creating their robust reporting and analytics capabilities are highly relevant to our sector and its current stage of evolution.”

Academic Partnerships is a leading online service provider for higher education globally. The company assists universities in converting their on-campus degree programs into an online format, recruits qualified students for those programs, and supports enrolled students through graduation.

Why Do Companies Change CEOs So Often?

Ms. Chatfield-Taylor, who is also a member of Caldwell’s technology, consumer digital and media teams, focuses on executive level search assignments for high growth technology companies with expertise in software as a service, internet, e-commerce, gaming and other consumer technology. She has completed over 50 CEO searches as well as other CXO level assignments for her clients; she has also filled CEO roles for online media company Manta Media and software provider Innography.

Tightening talent pipelines are wreaking havoc for hiring companies by edging up CFO pay packages, according to recruiters, making the hunt for top-flight financial specialists one of the more costly searches to undertake. On the flip side, it is now one of the most lucrative areas for headhunters.